Find the Crystal Palace Sphinx

When London hosted the Great Exhibition in 1851, it was a chance for London to show the world the power and greatness of Britain in the Victorian Age. As such, it was decorated with various architectural and aesthetic flourishes which reflected the global nature of the exhibition. A Sphinx was inevitable really...


The 990,000 square ft Crystal Palace was built in Hyde Park as a place for more than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world to gather and celebrate the progress of the industrial revolution and the might of the empire.

The 'Palace', originally designed by Joseph Paxton, who had been gardener at Chatsworth, in Derbyshire, was subsequently relocated to Sydenham, to the area we all now know as Crystal Palace. Many of the sculptures and flourishes were relocated with it, and whilst the palace itself burned down in 1936, some of the other elements remain and the Sphinx still stands guard at the entrance, keeping watch to check who accesses the empty terraces where once a palace stood.

For more on the Crystal Palace, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crystal_Palace

_{^Picture by GoforChris^}

Visit the Markfield Beam Engine

As mentioned last Sunday, it is time to have a look at the Markfield Beam Engine and Museum, which is open today as part of regular openings on the second Sunday of each month. The engine, in Markfield Park, Harringey was once used to move sewage from Tottenham into the London system for treatment at the Beckton sewage works.


The 100 horsepower beam pumping engine, built in 1886 by Wood Brothers, is housed in an original Grade II listed Engine House in the former sewage treatment works for Tottenham which have now become part of Markfield Park.

The Engine operated from 1886 until 1905 continuously, and carried on service on standby operation until 1964 when sewers were diverted to the extended East Middlesex Works at Deephams. The engine has recently been restored and can be seen operating under steam on designated days.

Meanwhile, the museum is open on the second Sunday of each month from 11am until 4pm. For more information, see http://www.mbeam.org/

Visit St Mary's Church, Rotherhithe

There has been a church on the site of St Mary's, Rotherhithe for around 1,000 years and the current building was created in 1716 to replace the 12th century building which stood on the site.


Designed by John James, an associate of Sir Christopher Wren, it has associations with the maritime history of Britain, and also the 'Mayflower', the boat on which the Pilgrim Fathers sailed to America, which departed from nearby. It also has links to the South Pacific as Prince Lee Boo of Pelau, a Pacific Island prince who arrived in 1784 and is buried in the churchyard.

The history of the place is fascinating and there is too much detail to recall here, so for more information, see http://www.stmaryrotherhithe.org/

Gaze on the Thames from Dumsey Meadow

Dumsey Meadow is a green space in a bend in the River Thames just downstream from Chertsey Bridge. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and claims to be the only piece of undeveloped water meadow remaining on the River Thames inside the M25.


The Meadow and the river which runs alongside it are the venue for The Chertsey Regatta, an annual regatta which takes place in August and began in 1851. In 2004 the future of the regatta was threatened when the meadow received its Site of Special Scientific Interest designation. However, with the help of the local authorities and English Nature, an agreement was reached allowing the regatta to continue.

Click here to see the meadow on a map or for more on Dumsey Meadow see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumsey_Meadow

_{^Picture from Wikipedia under Wikimedia Commons^}

Discover London's 'Petit France' at the Kensington Crêperie

The area around the Institut français du Royaume-Uni, near South Kensington Tube Station, is London's 'Petite France'. It's like a little bit of France in London with a number of Parisian-style restaurants, bookshops, baguette shops, bars and even a French school, all laid out along several pleasant bistro-lined roads.


The Kensington Crêperie, on Exhibition Road, is right at the heart of this area, operating as one of London's top French Crêperie cafés since 2001. Housed in a Grade 2 listed former dairy, and rich with French paraphernalia and pictures by well-known photographic artist, Shimon Mizrahy, the cafe has apparently adopted continental furniture, traditional tiles and outdoor seating to give it a particularly Parisian feel.

Crêpes are also available as a take away option, and there is a sister cafe - The Marylebone Crêperie - for those based around Oxford Street. The Kensington Creperie is open Tuesday to Sunday 11am until 11.30pm (midnight on busy days) and Mondays from midday until 11.30pm. Crêpes cost from £3.00 to £8.50. For more information, see http://www.kensingtoncreperie.com/

Take a tour of the Royal Opera House

The Royal Opera House in Covent Garden has had a difficult history. Originally built in 1732, it was subsequently ravaged by fires in 1808 and 1857. Whilst the current Opera House retains the façade, foyer and auditorium of the 1858 rebuild, almost every other element of the present building dates from an extensive refurbishment in the 1990s.


The current Opera House auditorium is a Grade 1 listed building seating 2,268 people and has four tiers of boxes and balconies and an amphitheatre gallery. The stage has probably played host to some of the finest names in ballet and opera, whose names escape your author.

If you can't face sitting through hours and hours of Opera (or even worse ballet) you can still have a poke around on an official tour. Tours usually Monday to Friday at 10.30am, 12.30pm and 2.30pm, and on Saturdays at 10.30am, 11.30am, 12.30pm and 1.30pm, but this is understandably subject to changes and rehearsals to you should contact them to check. They take about an hour and a half and cost £10.

For more information, see http://www.roh.org.uk/whatson/tour.aspx

_{^Picture by danielabsilva^}

Drink in a Bavarian Beerhouse

Established in 2005 in a basement on City Road, between Shoreditch, Farringdon and Angel, the Bavarian Beerhouse claims to be the UK's only authentic German/Bavarian Restaurant offering a wide selection of German beers, Bavarian food and unique entertainment in a rustic bier keller environment.


The Beerhouse is open daily for drinks and a range of traditional Bavarian food including meat, pretzels and bread imported from Germany. The Restaurant is open daily for lunch and dinner, closing at at 10pm.

The Beerhouse is open til 11pm Monday to Thursday, til 1am on Friday and Saturday, and until 9pm on Sundays. For more information, see http://www.bavarian-beerhouse.com/

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Visit the Chapel of St Peter and St Paul, Greenwich

The Chapel of St Peter and St Paul, at the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich, is opposite Thornhill's famous Painted Hall, and is just as impressive.


Originally completed to the designs of Thomas Ripley in 1751, the chapel was gutted by a fire in 1779, and was redesigned and rebuilt under James ‘Athenian’ Stuart, in the ‘Greek revival’ style, with detailing by his Clerk of Works, William Newton.

The chapel reopened in 1789, and though it has since undergone changes, a 1950 refurbishment means it stands today almost exactly as it did then.

The chapel is open to the public, for free, every day, and is also known for its acoustics so it can be a good idea to try to visit during a choral or organ recital. For more details, see http://www.oldroyalnavalcollege.org/the-chapel/

Have a light lunch at the Markfield Park Cafe

The new cafe in Markfield Park, in Seven Sisters ward, Haringey, opened its doors to the public on Saturday 19th September 2009. The cafe is also known as Pistachios in the Park, as it is run by a franchise with the same name, which runs a number of park cafes and specialises in healthy eating and selling educational wooden toys.


The cafe sits in an extension to the Pump House in the park, which stopped working in 1964 and has undergone extensive restoration by the Markfield Beam Engine and Museum Trust who occupy the building and open it to the public every month, but more about that next Sunday.

The cafe has free wifi, a free car park and sits on the edge of a 7.6 hectare park by the River Lee with football pitches, a children's playground, a BMX park, a bowling green and a rose garden (in season).

The cafe is open 9am-5pm daily and 9.30am-5pm on Sundays. For more, see http://www.pistachiosinthepark.org.uk/page9.htm

See the new minaret at the Brick Lane Mosque

The Swiss probably wouldn't like it, and some ridiculous people have been talking about it aggravating racial tensions, but your author thinks the new Minaret, winched into place in mid-December, beside the Brick Lane Jamme Masjid is brilliant.


Towering above the corner of Fournier Street and Brick Lane, and topped with a bright crescent moon, the new minaret is 90ft tall, and is right in the heart of the Brick Lane area in every sense.

The Mosque itself is a converted former synagogue and Huguenot church, and as such is a symbol of how the area has changed. The Minaret is part of an £8.6m regeneration project which will also see new arches erected along Brick Lane, all paid for with money from the Bishops Square development near Liverpool Street Station.

For more, see the East London Advertiser.

_{^Apologies for the awful picture, taken on your author's phone ^}

Drink Champagne at 590ft in Vertigo 42

Sadly, it's a bit beyond your author's means, but if you're looking for a drink at the top of a skyscraper in London, you're in luck. Vertigo 42, the champagne bar on the 42nd floor of Tower 42, is open to anyone who has made a reservation and can stump up the cash.


The bar is open Monday to Friday, 12 noon - 3pm and 5pm - 11pm, and Saturdays 5pm - 11pm only. The cheapest drink on the example menu is an £8 a glass wine (175ml and exclusive of 12.5% service charge, of course), but it would be an experience and bottles are from £32.

There's also good news if you're looking to host a party. The champagne lounge can be hired exclusively from Monday to Friday, but your author has a feeling it will cost you.

Vertigo 42 is in Tower 42, Old Broad Street, London, EC2N 1HQ. For more on Vertigo 42, see http://www.vertigo42.co.uk/

_{^Picture by Malinki^}

Play netball in the shadow of the Gherkin

It may not feel like the sort of weather you want to be outside in playing netball, but your author has it on good authority that the London charities netball league is in full swing, so if you're looking for somewhere to play with a bit of history, you could contact the good folks at St Botolph without Bishopsgate, a living church in the heart of the City of London.


Their courts are in the gardens behind the church, which as the name suggests is just off Bishopsgate. The courts operate for netball only in the winter and for tennis and netball in the summer. Bookings are possible between 8 am and 9 pm, Monday to Friday in 1 hour sessions, between 12 noon and 2 pm as half hour sessions, starting on the hour and at half past the hour.

Your author thinks a full court is around £40 an hour and floodlights might be available if you have enough £1 coins to feed the meter, but this isn't clear. Best ask when you contact them.

For more, and to contact the Verger and Court Manager, see http://www.botolph.org.uk/hall-court-hire/

Visit the Albert Memorial

London has many royal memorials, but the grandest and most impressive is surely the Albert Memorial, opposite the Royal Albert Hall, in Kensington Gardens.


Your author tries to give a bit of variety with his suggestions, but sometimes the originals are the best. The Albert Memorial was commissioned by Queen Victoria in memory of her late husband Prince Albert, after his death in 1861. Designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, it finally opened in 1872, but the seated statue of Albert, by John Henry Foley, wasn't added until 1875.

The huge memorial has a range of features including allegorical sculptures at each corner, depicting the Victorian industrial arts and sciences - agriculture, commerce, engineering and manufacturing - and the Victorian continents - Europe, Asia, Africa and The Americas.

For more, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Memorial

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Learn about the War on Photography, with David Hoffman

Your author is often behind the curve, so after missing recommending last week's mass gathering in Trafalgar Square, he might suggest you can still find out about the "I’m a Photographer, not a Terrorist" movement tonight at the Frontline Club with co-founder and veteran filmmaker, David Hoffman.


Hoffman has been a key campaigner against legislation and police restrictions on photography, and is speaking at the Frontline Club, London's club to promote independent current affairs and journalism, to talk about the campaign in more depth, and reflect on the challenges facing the photography profession, particularly the ready availability of free substitutes for photojournalists’ work .

The event costs £12.50 and is followed by a question and answer session moderated by photographer Chris Steele-Perkins. For more information, see http://frontlineclub.com/events/2010/02/in-the-picture-with-david-hoffman-war-on-photography.html

_{^Picture by Dr John2005 under Creative Commons licence^}

Take the London Insider Tube Tour

Your author was treated to a free tour on the London Underground recently by the good people at Insider London, and it was very pleasant. Their two hour tour takes participants through 150 years of tube history, teaching them about various aspects of the construction and development of the world's first underground railway.


The downside, however, is that at £34.50 the cost is steep and your author isn't sure it is worth that much, even though you do get to learn some interesting titbits along the way, and even get the chance of spotting a 'ghost station' or two along the route.

For the money, the tours are also private, held in small groups, and they run whenever you want, beginning at Farringdon and ending at Westminster. For real enthusiasts there is also a six hour option which costs £79.50, and doesn't include lunch because they 'like to let guests choose exactly what they would like'. In truth these tours are both prohibitively priced for anyone but the most ardent cash-rich underground fan, and your author suggests you might be better off buying a book and doing it yourself.

For more on the tour, see http://insider-trends.com/london-underground-tours/ or to book email contact@insider-london.co.uk.

_{^Picture by Axel Rouvin^}